Polk Museum Showcases Paintings from Smithsonian

By MARY CANNADAYLEDGER CORRESPONDENT

Saturday

Oct 12, 2013 at 9:53 PM

A partnership between the Polk Museum of Art and the Smithsonian is bringing back the thrill of the United States' unprecedented early space exploration through "Paintings of the Space Age," on exhibit through Dec. 7 in the museum's Dorothy Jenkins Gallery.

A partnership between the Polk Museum of Art and the Smithsonian is bringing back the thrill of the United States' unprecedented early space exploration through "Paintings of the Space Age," on exhibit through Dec. 7 in the museum's Dorothy Jenkins Gallery.The exhibition's opening coincides with NASA's 55th anniversary occurring this month.The Polk exhibit showcases large-scale paintings by four nationally renowned artists: Paul Calle, Lamar Dodd, Mitchell Jamieson and Robert T. McCall. Calle and McCall are also known for art commissioned for collectible postage stamps, including Calle's depiction of the first manned moon landing.McCall created much of the promotional and production artwork for Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" and for "Star Trek, the Motion Picture."The sheer size of the current exhibit's paintings enhances their impact, with some between 3 feet to 7 feet tall. And the topic of space travel is close to home for Central Floridians."This exhibit is bound to be of great interest here, considering our close proximity to the (Kennedy) Space Center," said Sandra Dimsdale Horan, public relations and marketing manager for the Polk Museum of Art. According to Horan, the paintings are part of a historic undertaking begun in the 1960s, when a NASA administrator, James Webb, suggested that artists be enlisted to document the historic effort to send the first man to the moon.Adding a vibrancy missing from the cut-and-dried photos of the day, the depth and color of the pieces are breathtaking. One can almost feel the intense heat from a painting of the fire from afterburners at liftoff."It was really very forward-thinking of Webb, to want to capture the emotion of the space program," Horan said.Webb enlisted James Dean, a young artist employed by the NASA Public Affairs Office, who collaborated with Dr. H. Cooke, curator of paintings at the National Gallery of Art. "The two invited artists to NASA to paint whatever interested them, and the result was an extraordinary collection of works of art," Horan said.The program took off from there."These paintings were created by artists who were noted for their more realistic styles, said Polk Museum's Curator of Art Adam Justice. "It seems the fantastic subject of space exploration allowed them to momentarily veer away from naturalism and explore their more abstract and formally expressive styles."The program continued to grow and eventually included artists such as Norman Rockwell and Robert Rauschenberg. The program diversified to include a number of media and now includes photography by Annie Leibovitz, a poem by Ray Bradbury, and a song by Patti LaBelle.The collection's ownership is now split between NASA and the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and comprises about 3,000 works.The portion of the collection at the Polk Museum is here because of an affiliation between the local museum and the Smithsonian. It is the second exhibit from the Smithsonian, the first being "In Vibrant Color," celebrating the development of early color photography from the late 1930s to 1951.The Polk Museum of Art became a Smithsonian affiliate in 2010, and Horan and Justice both described a growing relationship between the two entities. "We're working with the Smithsonian to bring exhibits here that will appeal to our constituency," Horan said.Polk Museum of Art's stature as one of the top 10 art museums in Florida, and its standing as the only museum in Polk County accredited by The American Association of Museums (there are about 4 percent accredited nationally) contributed to the affiliation, Horan said.Justice, busily helping the museum staff paint the gallery walls a deep midnight blue (to enhance the space theme) last week, said "We think visitors will find this collection very exciting."This is a unique opportunity in that these works of art are not from an art museum specifically, but from a museum noted for its focus on history and science. Rarely are these works on view at the National Air and Space Museum."

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